Authorities of a small town in Southern Russian confirm death of one of its residents in the US airstrike in Syria

Monday, February 19, 2018 10:30:00 AM

Pavel Dubinets, the deputy ataman of the Cossack society of the Krylovskaya district, told TASS on Sunday that a resident of the town of Krylovskaya, which is located in Krasnodar Krai, had been killed in Syria. The information was also confirmed by friends and relatives of the deceased.

"I know that he died in Syria. An acquaintance showed the video - already published somewhere - as the helicopter destroyed three platoons, including [that of] Tereshchenko," he said, noting that the departed was a volunteer soldier. The source added that the deceased, Oleg Tereshchenko, was not a member of the Cossack community.

Another town resident confirmed information about the death. "He is my distant relative, Oleg Sergeevich Tereshchenko. There has not yet been a funeral," she added. According to TASS, the town church the family has already requested a memorial service for Oleg Tereshchenko. The woman weighing in on the matter gave a heads up that Tershchenko would be buried in a zinc coffin, as the man was killed "abroad, under unclear circumstances."

Tereshchenko's friends said that he came to Krylovskaya in the 1990s with his mother and brother from the Far North. He graduated from school in the early 2000s, then served in the army and went to Chechnya as a volunteer soldier.

"[Tereshchenko] and a friend were the first from our district to go to Chechnya; at the time I did not know where he served and fought. He was a regular guy; he worked in the militia, did his business…he would rotate wheels with his brother in a tire shop…he was sympathetic, always ready to help," said Roman, a friend of Tereshchenko.

According to the news agency's sources, Tereshchenko died in early February, but the body has not yet been delivered; when they plan to bring it is unknown. In the first days after his death there was a telephone call from his colleagues, but then the calls have stopped.

On February 7, the US-led coalition forces conducted the strike against the Syrian militia affiliated with Assad in the province of Deir ez Zor. The U.S. coalition said that the blow was struck in response to an attack on the headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). According to Reuters, at least 100 people were killed in the attack. At the same time users of Russian social networks suggest that the losses suffered by Russians are far more considerable.